Read Natural Selection (A Free Spider Shepherd short story) for Free Online

opened the jar, tipped the spider onto the ground and hit it on the head with his rifle butt as it tried to scuttle away. ‘That’s the mercy killing done.’ He took a disposable lighter out of his pocket and blowtorched the spider with the flame.
    ‘You won’t cook it that way,’ Jimbo said.
    ‘I’m not trying to, I’m just singeing off the hairs, they’re an irritant.’
    ‘Bit like you,’ Geordie said. ‘Get on with it, will you?’
    Shepherd pretended to hesitate, then popped the spider in his mouth, letting the legs drape over his chin for a moment, before crunching it up in a couple of bites and swallowing it.
    ‘Bloody hell,’ Liam said, grimacing ‘Now I’ve seen everything.’
    Shepherd opened his mouth to show it was empty and gave a big smile. ‘Easiest hundred and fifty quid I ever made. Some of the local tribes eat them. I read about it before we came out here.’
    ‘You sly sod,’ Geordie said. ‘You set us up, didn’t you?’ He paused. ‘So what do they taste like?’
    ‘Chicken,’ Shepherd said reaching for his water bottle. He grinned. ‘To be honest, more like chicken shit.’
    Jimbo gave a slow smile. ‘I think we’ve found your nickname: “Spider”. What do we think guys?’
    Geordie and Liam nodded. ‘Spider it is,’ said Geordie.
    Shepherd insisted that the three handed over the money as Pilgrim returned with five ration packs which he distributed before they sat down and began their first “Chinese Parliament”, throwing ideas and suggestions for the patrol into the mix, which were then argued over, disputed, and accepted or rejected. Pilgrim controlled the discussion and had the final say, but he was careful to let everyone have their input.
    Shepherd, Geordie and Jimbo had been in the Paras, where a limited amount of opinion from the ranks was permitted, but it was a very new experience for Liam, who had been an infantryman – ‘a crap-hat’ to the ex-Paras, since he wore a black beret rather than their maroon one. During Liam‘s previous military career he had been expected to follow orders without question and if he had any opinions, his wisest course was to keep them to himself. All that had changed now that he was with the SAS. Now everyone’s opinion was at least listened to.
    ‘So,’ Pilgrim said. ‘We need to give the Guatemalan Army a couple of good reasons not to come across the border again, but as the Colonel told us, if we get into another contact with them, we don’t want to kill too many because it’ll create an international shit-storm. So we just want to do enough damage to discourage them, and that means we’re going to be selective. As we’ve just discussed, the only way we will relieve the pressure on Belize is to go deep into enemy territory, find a military base staffed by senior officers and take one or two of them out. The junta won’t care if a few other ranks get killed in cross-border ops, but if we give some senior officers the good news, they’ll soon go off the idea.’
    ‘How will we locate the base?’ Jimbo said.
    ‘We’ll track the course of this river,’ Pilgrim said, pointing at his map. ‘Jungle villages are always close to rivers - the source of food and the only communications route - and soldiers locate next to civilians if they can for administrative reasons: they can get food cooked and laundry washed... and possibly other services that soldiers often seem to want. OK. That’s the plan. All agreed? Then let’s get the preparation done.
    ‘Personal equipment: escape and navigation kit should either hidden or tied to the body. Each of you should be carrying an escape button compass with a wire diamond-tip file hidden in the seam of your clothing to help you escape.  You must also carry your personal medical kit and your compass on your body. Wear your ID tags, watch and morphine around your neck tied with para cord and masking tape. The relevant map must always be in your pocket.’
    He waited for a nod of